


Chocolate Cake and Toy Trains

by Fireborn



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Birthday Cake, Fluff, Gen, Kid Fic, Sora and Riku are the bestest of friends, birthday gift
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 19:34:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21883957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fireborn/pseuds/Fireborn
Summary: Riku turned six years old today, and Sora was still only four and a half (and a little bit), so that made Riku really cool. And even though Riku was really cool, he still wanted to play with Sora all the time, and now Sora got to go to hisbirthday party.Sora felt like the luckiest boy alive.
Relationships: Riku & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 95





	Chocolate Cake and Toy Trains

**Author's Note:**

  * For [greeneggs101](https://archiveofourown.org/users/greeneggs101/gifts).



> HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPH!!!! This is for you <3
> 
> my eternal thanks go to Paion for the beta!!!

Sora had been excited for the birthday party all week. 

So much, in fact, that his stomach had felt a little weird for days now, and it was even harder than usual to sit still. Last night, he'd been so excited that it took a long time to fall asleep. And then he’d woken up really early this morning because all he could think about was that he got to go over to Riku’s house later to eat cake and play. The more he thought about that, the less he was able to fall back asleep.

Riku turned six years old today, and Sora was still only four and a half (and a little bit), so that made Riku really cool. And even though Riku was really cool, he still wanted to play with Sora all the time, and now Sora got to go to his _birthday party._

Sora felt like the luckiest boy alive.

And what was more, he was also wearing his favourite clothes: a pair of red shorts that were soft and loose, and a striped t-shirt with pink and yellow. His mother had shook her head when she saw him in these clothes, but then she’d smiled and told him to put on his shoes. (His shoes were yellow, which Sora liked. Yellow was his favourite colour).

Sora held his mother's hand tightly as they walked, and he did a few skips into the air because he felt all jittery inside, so he couldn't help but hop from one foot to the other. Then suddenly he noticed a group of pigeons feeding in the grass of someone's front yard, so he got distracted by them for a bit and forgot to skip. He even forgot to walk because there were a _lot_ of pigeons, and they all made very loud _coo_ -ing noises, and the flap-flap of their wings as they scrambled around the food was really fascinating, too.

“Come on, Sora,” his mother said, gently tugging on his hand. “We're going to be late. We can look at the pigeons some other time.”

And that made him think of Riku and the birthday party again, so he quickly let himself be pulled along. 

Riku only lived three blocks away, and Sora knew the way with his eyes closed (probably, he'd never actually tried it, although it sounded like a fun thing to try). Sometimes Sora was allowed to walk to Riku's house on his own, but today his mother insisted on taking him there.

In his mother's other hand was a red plastic bag, and in the plastic bag—all wrapped up in wrapping paper with colourful stars—was Sora's gift for Riku. Sora had picked it out himself: it was a yellow toy truck with a green dump bed that you could tilt back to unload whatever you had put in there. The man at the toy store had told Sora that you could play with it inside but also outside in the sandbox, and Sora liked playing outside in the sandbox, so he knew it was a great gift. He couldn't wait to give it to Riku. 

Finally, they arrived at Riku’s house, and Sora’s mother let him ring the doorbell—which Sora could only just reach when he stood on his tiptoes.

Sora was so excited that he could barely stand still, rocking backwards and forwards a little on the balls of his feet until the door opened and he noticed the legs of Riku's mother standing in the doorway. Sora looked up, up, up to see her smiling down at him.

“Hello, Sora,” Riku's mother said.

Sora's eyes dropped down again, and he stepped sideways so he could peer past her legs for any sign of Riku. He didn't have to wait long; Riku came running into the hallway not a few seconds later. He was dressed in yellow shorts and a dark blue t-shirt, and his hair was neatly brushed.

“Sora!” he called. “You're finally here!”

“Riku!” Sora exclaimed, and he tried to slip past Riku's mother to get to his best friend. However, his mother was still holding onto his hand, so he didn't get past the threshold. She pulled him back to her side.

“Now, Sora, say hello to Riku's mother, too.”

Sora blushed a little and looked up again. He'd almost forgotten. “Hello, Riku's mother.”

“And you should tell Riku happy birthday, too.”

“Happy birthday, Riku,” Sora said obediently.

“Thank you, Sora,” Riku piped up from behind his mother's legs.

But still, his mother didn't let him go. “Now, Sora, be a good boy, okay? I will come and pick you up at the end of the afternoon.”

“Yes, mom.” Sora nodded, tugging on his arm because he really wanted to go and play with Riku.

“And here's Riku's gift.” Sora took the plastic bag she gave him without looking at it. His mother sighed, then bent down to kiss his forehead. “Okay, off you go.”

There might have been more words that she said, but by then Sora had finally wiggled out of her grasp so he could stumble over the threshold to Riku, and anything else wasn't really important at that moment.

“My mom made a cake! We waited for you so we could eat it,” Riku said while Sora sat down to take off his shoes. After that, Riku led the way from the hallway into the kitchen as Sora bounced behind him. “It's a chocolate cake, and it looks really good.”

“I love chocolate!” Sora exclaimed happily. 

Riku didn't have a dad. Sometimes Riku got sad when someone asked about this, so Sora just didn't ask about it. It wasn’t really weird, anyway. Riku just had a mom, and Sora had a mom and a dad, and that's just how it was.

In the kitchen, Sora and Riku climbed onto two of the chairs (Riku's chair was decorated with balloons, which Sora really liked), and Sora raised himself on his knees so he could take a closer look at the chocolate cake. It was dark brown, and covered with star sprinkles in every colour of the rainbow, which made it look really pretty. There were purple candles on top of the cake.

“Wow!” Sora gasped with wide eyes. 

“There's six candles on it!” Riku said proudly.

“Because you're six now?”

Riku nodded.

Both of them stared at the cake for long moments. Then Sora tore his eyes away to look back towards Riku. “I got you a present!”

He thrust the red plastic bag into Riku's hands. Riku looked down at the bag and then back up at Sora. His eyes were a really deep bright colour somewhere between blue and green, and they were shining. “For me?”

Sora nodded and shifted so he could sit down properly and dangle his feet from the chair. “Open it! It's really good!”

Vaguely, Sora realised Riku's mom entered the kitchen, but he was mostly preoccupied with Riku taking the present out of the bag. Sora leaned forward as much as he dared on the chair without falling off.

Sora smiled as Riku carefully removed the tape from the wrapping paper, and then the wrapping paper from the box. Sora decided that he could probably see everything better if he moved closer, so he slid off the chair to stand next to Riku. 

Finally, after a _very_ long time, Riku slid the box out of the paper. “Ohhhhhh!”

“It’s a truck!” Sora exclaimed, clapping his hands before reaching for the box before he could help himself. “Look, you can play with it inside or outside in the sandbox. I love the sandbox.”

“I love it, Sora,” Riku said, and Sora beamed up at him. “We can play with it later if you want?”

“Yes!”

With some difficulty, Riku opened the box and took out the truck. He set it on the kitchen table so he could look at it, and then he turned back to grin at Sora.

“Sora, Riku, would you like some cake?”

Both boys turned back towards Riku’s mom and nodded.

“Sora, can you sit back on your chair, please?”

As Sora climbed back on the chair, Riku's mom cut the cake into pieces and slid saucers and forks over to both of them, and then they ate cake with the three of them around the kitchen table, while Riku's mom asked questions about school (Sora liked school, and he mostly liked playing outside in the schoolyard) and then if they liked the cake (Sora liked the cake very much, especially the sprinkles).

When Sora's piece of cake was completely eaten, he licked the saucer until it was clean, and when he put it down Riku was giggling with his eyes a little crinkled at the corners.

Sora tilted his head. “Why are you laughing?”

But then Riku's mom came over with a wet cloth to wipe Sora's mouth, so oh, Riku was probably laughing because he got chocolate cake all over his face. That sometimes happened when Sora was eating things he really liked.

Riku finished his cake too, and he licked the saucer clean just like Sora had done, but he didn't get any chocolate on his face. Sora smiled at him again because like he already knew, that just meant Riku was really cool.

“Do you wanna see the present I got from my mom?” Riku asked with a smile. 

Sora nodded vigorously and jumped off the chair as Riku took the toy truck off the table with one hand. Then he took Sora's hand in his other hand and led Sora through the kitchen and into the living room. 

And in the middle of the living room stood—

Sora froze. That was… A really big beige box, with a large picture of a toy train on the front. The same toy train that Sora had wanted for months, ever since he'd first seen it in the window of the toy store. He was going to ask it from Santa. But now…

Riku let go of Sora's hand, dropped to his knees and reached for the box with eager arms as Sora just stood there. He felt his bottom lip wobble. But no, he shouldn't cry. It was Riku's birthday, he shouldn't be sad. It wasn't fair to Riku if he got sad. 

But it wasn't long until Riku noticed that Sora had gone silent and turned his head to face him. The smile on his face fell immediately.

“Sora?”

No, no, no, now Sora made Riku _sad_. He tried to force his face into a grin, the one that _always_ made Riku smile back at him. But not this time, so maybe his grin had come out all wrong? 

“Sora, why are you crying?”

“I'm not crying!”

But then he felt wetness on his cheeks, and he looked down at his shoes and the wooden floor because it was Riku's birthday, and Riku shouldn't see him _cry_. 

He heard Riku set down the box with a heavy thunk, and then Riku crawled over to him on his hands and knees, pushing himself up to stand in front of Sora.

“Sora, it's okay!” Out of the corner of his eye, Sora saw Riku lift a hand, and then Riku's warm hand was against his cheek, his fingers brushing away the tears. “What's wrong?” 

Sora tried to take a deep breath to tell Riku nothing was wrong, but the air came into his lungs all shaky, and that hurt a little. So he looked back towards the toy train box, and he closed his eyes for a second.

“I wanted that train, too,” he whispered hoarsely. 

Riku stepped even closer and put his arms around Sora's shoulders, and at the touch, Sora felt the thing that was squeezing him inside unwind a little. 

“Sorry…” He hugged Riku back tightly, sniffling. “I'm really happy for you, that you got the train.”

Riku's hair tickled against his neck, and that made Sora almost giggle even though he was also still crying just a little bit. 

After long moments, Riku let him go and stepped back. He looked at Sora seriously, but Sora's eyes were still a little wet, so Sora couldn't really see him very well. He blinked and wiped a bit at his eyes with his hands as he took another shuddery breath. When he opened his eyes wide again, he could see Riku non-blurry, which was good.

“Sora,” Riku said softly. “We can play with the train together. It'll be _our_ train, okay? You can come over whenever you want, and you can always play with it too.”

That made Sora smile really brightly. “Really?”

Riku nodded. “Of course, you can play with all my toys! You're my best friend!”

“You're my best friend, too, Riku.” Sora sniffled a little, but he was still smiling through his tears, which meant he wasn't sad anymore. “Can we play with the train now? I wanna play with the train!”

“Okay, c’mon then!” Riku said before giving Sora a smile. “You can carry the box upstairs to my room! I’ll bring the truck you gave me.”

Carrying the box was an important job, one Sora wanted to take very seriously. He made his way over and crouched next to the box so he could pick it up. It was heavier than he expected, and it was hard to wrap his arms completely around it, but he managed.

“Let's go!” Riku exclaimed with the truck held high above his head, and Sora followed Riku up the stairs and to his room. It was hard, climbing the steps with the box in his arms, but Riku was counting on him to do it, and that gave Sora the confidence to keep going, even when his arms got a little tired halfway up the stairs. Riku turned around multiple times to watch him, but Sora didn't give up, and Riku didn't need to help him once.

When they arrived in Riku's room, Sora tried to set the box down gently, but by then his arms were shaking so much that it was almost impossible and the box fell out of his hands with a loud bang on the play rug with the streets and the houses and the shops.

Sora winced, and his eyes shot up to where Riku was opening the lid of his toy box. Riku didn’t seem to mind the bang, he didn’t even turn back around, so Sora exhaled with a long sound that was almost like a whistle.

He dropped to his knees on the rug, next to the box. “Hey, Riku?”

“Yeah?” Riku’s voice was muffled from where it was buried deep in the toy box.

Sora thought maybe he should wait until Riku re-emerged. He did so only a moment later, both hands around a box with wooden trees and little wooden figures.

“Can I open it?”

Riku bit his lip for a second before he nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

“Yay!” Eagerly, Sora reached out both hands to open the box. His fingers slipped on the cardboard flap a few times before he managed to take a firm hold on it, so he could pry it open. As Riku dropped down by his side, Sora folded open one large flap, then the other, and then the little side flaps.

Sora raised himself up on his knees to peer into the box, with Riku next to him doing the same. It was filled with plastic bags, and each of the bags contained colourful wooden toy trains or curved and straight track pieces.

Sora turned to Riku with a grin. “This is so cool!”

He reached into the box and handed over the plastic bags to Riku, one at a time. Riku carefully laid them next to each other until the entire box was empty. Sora turned the box over and shook it for good measure, but no further plastic bags fell out, so Sora was satisfied. He shoved the box aside and started helping Riku take the pieces out of the plastic bags. The bags disappeared somewhere behind them—or underneath Riku's bed, Sora was too preoccupied to notice—and more and more wooden pieces ended up in a large pile on the rug.

Together, they started building the tracks. Sora had the stack of straight pieces, and Riku had the curved ones, so they alternated piecing them together. Riku's new toy truck was placed between them, and Riku had placed some of the wooden people and animal figures in there to store there until the track layout was complete.

After they had used most of the pieces, the entire rug was covered in a single track layout, complete with a suspension bridge, a tunnel, a station, and two signposts. 

Sora flopped down on his stomach so he could survey the result of all their hard work. He watched as Riku placed the toy trees and the little people and animals all around the tracks on the rug.

A very pleasant warm feeling spread throughout Sora's chest, and Sora couldn't stop smiling. “I'm so happy you got this train from your mom, Riku.” 

“Me too,” Riku said, and he looked up to smile back at Sora. Sora's smile only grew wider.

“Can we make two trains, one for you and one for me?”

“Of course!” Riku said, reaching for the train cars to conduct the magnets together to make a train for himself. Then he handed the other three train cars to Sora.

Sora stilled, just looking at the red and blue pieces in his hands for a long moment. Playing with Riku was always his favourite thing to do. It made him feel so _happy_.

“Sora?”

Sora turned to Riku with the train pieces still in his hands. “Yes?”

“I'm really glad you're my best friend.”

Sora broke into the biggest grin he could muster, something that just happened automatically. He threw himself forward, and Riku opened his arms just in time for Sora to hug him, the train cars still clasped in his hands as his arms went around Riku’s shoulders. Riku hugged him back tightly as they toppled over onto the rug, narrowly missing the railroad bridge.

“I’m really glad you’re my best friend too, Riku!”

The warm feeling in his chest returned, and Sora couldn't stop smiling as they both scrambled to their knees again.

They played with the train all afternoon, pushing the trains along the tracks and the viaducts, turning the gears of the bridge to let the boat sail by, and moving all the people to and from the train station.

Sora was so sad when his mother came back to take him home that he almost cried again.

“Can Sora come back tomorrow to play with the train again?” Riku asked Sora's mother, his arms going around the toy truck.

“Yes,” Sora's mother said. “Tomorrow is Sunday, which means no school. If you boys want, you can play together all day.”

“Yes!” That cheered Sora up, so let his mother pick him up. “Bye, Riku. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye, Sora! Thank you for the present. See you tomorrow!”

Riku should have birthdays more often, Sora thought, as he wrapped his arms around his mother’s neck and yawned. He liked Riku’s birthdays almost as much as he liked Riku himself.

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me about Sora and Riku on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/fortheloveinyou) :)


End file.
